The Christian life consists of three stages – salvation, sanctification (growth and maturing), glorification (graduation! when the believer enters Heaven or when Jesus comes again to bring them to Heaven). When the believer comes to Christ and receives Him in his heart as his Lord, Savior – that is the salvation step. It happens very quickly just like the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. Sanctification is when the believer continues on his journey as a believer, continuing to grow in his knowledge of Christ and himself and his relationship with Him. This stage is likened to the wilderness journey of the children of Israel before they entered the Promised Land. For the Christian believer his walk with Jesus in his daily life is filled with challenges, even persecution, very much like a wilderness journey. At this stage he will be constantly tempted on whether he should continue on till he reaches glorification. It is not going to be a bed of roses. This word was spoken by Jesus to his disciples. They were people who had already decided to follow Him. The verses before and after this passage explain that they have to be ready to suffer and be persecuted, just like what was about to happen to Him. At this point His disciples still did not understand that He would be crucified, die and raised from the dead again. Jesus telling them that the chief priests would kill Him was actually shocking to them. This was a hard teaching because the same fate could befall on His disciples and here Jesus was getting them ready for it. Would the believer be ready to die for his faith in Christ in exchange for a place in Heaven for eternity? The disciple is faced with that option. The other option is to deny his faith in Christ, live a bit longer, but spend eternity in Hell – meaning, living a bit longer on earth, maybe even gaining the whole world and enjoying the things of the world for now, but losing his soul to Hell.
Luke 9:22 …“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.” 23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. 25 For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself?
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Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible, Bible App by YouVersion.com
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Art courtesy of YouVersion Bible app. I am using the Bible App by YouVersion.com for my daily devotion. Download it now for your mobile device. https://j794q.app.goo.gl/nd4yPrGj7Hbhy9Kk8
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